Title: The Wager

Author: David Grann

The Wager by David Grann tells the story of doomed 18th-century British naval warship the Wager, exploring the relationship between personal stories and history. During a mission in the War of Jenkins’ Ear, fought between the British and Spanish Empires, the Wager seemingly disappears, although it has actually wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia at the southern end of South America.

The prologue gives an account of the surviving crew members of the Wager, who arrive six months apart in Brazil and Chile, after most of the events of the text have already taken place. Once they return to England, it becomes clear to British authorities that the two groups of survivors have conflicting stories. Throughout the text, Grann uses a variety of firsthand personal accounts to turn the British Admiralty’s vague official records about the Wager into a three-dimensional narrative with multiple perspectives and interpretations of events. Along the way, The Wager raises questions about the validity of the official chain of command, the fragility of social order, and how imperial powers rewrite and erase history to justify their right to rule.

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